by Julie Wetzel
The tall blond stopped and spun on his heel to face Angela. “What happened?”
Angela cringed back from the intensity in his voice. “I don’t know,” she cried. Tears poured down her face as the man’s outrage pushed her back.
“Later,” the stout man ordered. “Get over here and drive.”
The tall blond shot Angela a sharp look but turned away to follow the order.
Angela watched as the stout man closed her passenger door and came over to her.
“Come with me, my dear,” he said. His voice had lost the sharp edge he had used to order the other man around, but it didn’t give her the option to argue. He caught a gentle hold of her elbow and pulled. “You’re not safe here.”
Fear raced up Angela’s back and she glanced around looking for danger. She stepped forward, letting him lead her to her car. “Where are we going?” she asked.
The man opened the back door of her car and placed her in. “Someplace safe,” he reassured her before climbing in beside her.
Angela slid across the seat, giving him more room.
As soon as the door was closed, the blond man put the car in gear and took off.
Panic closed up Angela’s chest as the gravity of the situation hit her. She was locked in a moving car at the mercy of three strange men. One possibly dead. This was not how she had envisioned her night going. Her hand found the handle on the door. Would it be better to jump out? She mulled over that answer as she watched the stout man check on the wounded man. He didn’t seem like the kind of person to kidnap a defenseless woman. Plus, she had come to them for help.
“Forgive us,” the man said as he slid back into the seat.
Angela’s breath caught in her chest as he turned to talk to her.
“I’m sorry we had to rush off like that, but Kyle needs help,” he explained. “We have friends nearby, but I need to know what happened.”
Licking her lips, Angela tried to find a way to put what she saw into words. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “They had him tied to a table and stabbed him.”
The man held his hand out to slow her down.
“Who?”
“Eugene Henderson,” Angela said. “He’s my father’s aide.”
“And who is your father?”
The fact that the man’s emotions were so level despite the situation helped to slow Angela’s racing pulse. “Minister Charles Lewis.”
The man exchanged a look through the rearview mirror with the blond before bringing his attention back to their conversation. “And you would be?”
“Angela Lewis.”
“Well, Angela. My name is Brigs and that is Alex.” He pointed to the man driving the car. “Do you know what happened to Kyle before he was stabbed?”
Angela blinked several times as she associated the name with her injured man. She glanced up at him. The name fit him well. She turned her gaze back to Brigs and shook her head. “No,” she answered. “I only got home today.” Her eyes moved to Kyle again. “Will he be okay?”
Brigs shifted to look at Kyle again but didn’t answer. He turned his attention back to Angela. “I’m sorry about this, but I’m going to have to ask that you stay with us for a while.”
Angela tensed up again. Were they kidnapping her?
“We need to find out what happened to Kyle,” Brigs explained. “And, I don’t think it will be safe for you to go home right now.”
Goosebumps raced down Angela’s arms. He’s right. She hadn’t thought about what saving the man would mean for her. Once the guy she’d hit woke up, it wouldn’t take long to figure out who attacked them. All of her things were upstairs at the barn! She wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed the shock in.
“We’ll take care of you.”
Angela’s eyes snapped back into focus. There was comfort in Brigs’ words that eased some of her fears.
The car jerked to a stop as Alex put it in park. “We’re here.” His words broke through the calm atmosphere Brigs has established, and the two men jumped into action.
Scurrying out of the car, she came around the back end to watch the two men lift Kyle from the seat.
“We need Noah,” Brigs said as they laid Kyle down on the ground. “Angela,” he barked.
“Yes,” she yelped as tension snapped her muscles to the ready.
“Second cabin on the left. Number five. Go get Noah,” he ordered and pointed off in a direction.
Angela’s feet were moving before she even thought. She ran down the packed dirt to a grouping of cabins. It looked like a summer camp of some sort. Flashes of horror movies played in her head as she raced to the second cabin and pounded on the door. “Noah” she shrieked. “Brigs needs you.”
Within seconds a tall man dressed in rumpled pajamas pants opened the door. He rubbed the back of his knuckle into his eye. “What?” he asked in a sleep laden voice.
Not sure if this was Noah, Angela grabbed his arm and pulled. “Brigs needs you,” she said again. “Kyle is hurt.” Angela gasped when the man jerked back as if she’d hit him. Even in the dim light, she could see his eyes shift from normal to black silts. Like a cat’s.
“Where?” he asked. His tone was sharp and focused. His nostrils flared as he drew in a deep breath.
Angela recoiled from him. He moved as if he was possessed by something with sharp claws. “That way.” She pointed back down the path.
“Come, we fix,” Noah said as he pushed past her and raced down the path.
Angela stared after him not sure what he meant.
“He’s not talking to you.”
She turned around to see a young woman standing in the doorway. “Who’s he talking to?”
The woman smiled. “I believe that was his dragon talking to him.” She slipped on a pair of shoes and gathered a second pair up. “Let’s go see if we can help.”
Angela’s mouth dropped open. Was the man split? She held her breath for a moment before following the woman back along the path. Didn’t she know how dangerous a split dragon was? Who are these people?
Following the strange woman back down the path, Angela pondered her situation. So far it’d been a very strange night. After watching one of her friends nearly kill a man, she’d attacked a guy, ran off with some stranger, been kidnapped by two more strangers, and was now following some random woman to go watch a split dragon try to save a life. I would rather listen to my roommate fuck. Letting out a sigh, Angela hurried to catch up with the woman. “By the way, I’m Angela.”
“Kara,” the woman introduced herself. “What happened?”
Angela let out a tired breath. That question was starting to grate on her nerves. “I don’t know. One minute I’m sleeping in the loft, and the next, my father’s aide is murdering some guy on the table downstairs.” She rubbed the tension from her temple. “Only they didn’t kill him. They just stabbed him with a knife and took out some crystal thingy.”
Kara stopped on the path and grabbed Angela’s arm. “A crystal? What did it look like?”
The rise in Kara’s voice and her quick actions made Angela drawback. “It was white with lots of sharp points. Maybe the size of a tennis ball.”
Fear flashed across Kara’s hazel eyes. “What happened to it?”
Angela didn’t understand the urgency in the woman’s voice. “Eugene put it in a box.”
Kara dropped Angela’s arm and took off running.
Surprise pushed Angela to move faster. She followed Kara as the woman raced down the path to the three men gathered around Kyle.
“They took his dragon,” Kara huffed as she slid to a stop next to the three men.
Angela pulled up short. She had no idea what Kara meant, but the news hit the men hard. Brigs’ spine stiffened in rage, Noah let out a high-pitched keening noise and dropped his face to Kyle’s chest, and Alex growled loudly.
Kara rested her hand on Noah’s shoulder and called to him softly. “Byrd.”
The keening stopped, and Noah sat back on his haunc
hes. He touched Kara’s hand before focusing on Kyle. “We knows. We saves.”
“Then give me back Noah so he can work,” she instructed.
Angela shuddered as she watched a shiver rush over the man. The way he moved became more fluid, confirming her fears. He is split. She circled around the group so she was standing close to Kyle’s feet. She was worried about the injured man, but she didn’t want to be near Noah. Split dragons were notoriously unpredictable.
Noah’s hands ripped at Kyle’s shirt, tearing it away from the dagger. He paused to look at the placement of the knife before sliding his hand up Kyle’s chest so the blade was nestled between his thumb and the side of his hand. He swallowed hard but glanced up at Brigs. “It goes clear to his heart.”
“Can you remove it?” Brigs asked.
“Byrd knows how, but he’s afraid. The king is weak. He may not live through the shock.”
The three men exchanged worried glances while they thought.
“What can we do?” Alex asked, he knelt next to Kyle and touched his arm. “I can feel his life force fading.” He looked over at Noah. “We can’t just let him die.”
“That’s it,” Noah exclaimed. “Lifeforce!” He pulled at Kyle’s shirt tearing it more. “I can link him to our life forces. That should support him enough to get the blade out.”
Kara dropped to her knees next to him. “What can we do?” She leaned forward to help pull open Kyle’s shirt.
“Just touch him,” Noah said. “Skin to skin contact. I’ll do the rest.”
Angela watched as everyone knelt down and touched the injured man. She didn’t know if they wanted her help, but she couldn’t stand idly by and watch. Kneeling down, she slipped her hand up the cuff of his pants and wrapped her fingers around his ankle.
The movement caught Noah’s attention, and his eyes flashed black. Gratitude shone in their depths before they flipped back to brown. “Just hold on,” he warned. “This is going to get weird.”
Angela’s fingers twitched on Kyle’s skin. That warning hadn’t been for everyone. It had been for her. She tightened her hold and nodded.
Noah nodded back before dipping his finger into Kyle’s blood and drawing on the man’s chest.
The sounds that left his mouth grated on Angela’s ears. They were unrecognizable as language. She closed her eyes and squeezed Kyle’s leg. Tingles raced up her arm, and she gasped as sparks flashed in the back of her eyes. Colors swirled around her. Red, green, blue, and black. She tried to scream as they pulled her from her body, but no sound came out.
Angela hung there without form, surrounded by the swirling colors. The sound of Noah’s voice stirred the colors and she felt herself being pulled into the mix. She fought against the pull trying to keep herself whole. The feel of dark scales brushed against her.
“For him,” a rough voice whispered to her. An image of Kyle danced in her vision.
For him. Those words were echoed in the other colors.
Angela stopped fighting. She’d willingly offered her help, and it was wrong to back out at this point. “For him,” she echoed the words and let go. The colors brushed against her, pulling her apart.
Being unraveled didn’t hurt like Angela had feared. It was rather soothing in an unconventional way. She relaxed as the sound of Noah’s voice stretched her out and wrapped her together with the other colors. Their touch was hot, but not uncomfortably so. She could feel the essence of each person around her.
Opening her eyes, she was surprised to find that she was still crouched on the ground holding Kyle’s leg. She felt a strange sense of detachment as her gaze roamed around the scene, as if she wasn’t connected properly to her body. It didn’t hurt, but it was a very weird sensation. Shaking off the unusual feeling, she looked around at the group, intrigued by what she saw.
With just a glance, she could match each person to their power. The blue came from Alex. It was filled with intense focus as he stared down at Kyle. The green came from Brigs. It was collected and calm, yet ready to spring to work if needed. The red came from Kara. It was tightly wound and worried. The black came from Noah. That power was focused. It rubbed against all of them, pulling them to their task.
As Angela surveyed the group, she realized something that had slipped past her before. All of these people were dragons. It suddenly became clear as to why each of their energies had color and hers did not. Their life force was colored by their dragons. Angela’s eyes dropped to the motionless man between them and wondered what color dragon he was. She got her answer when Noah finally linked all the powers together.
Gold washed over Angela’s visions, making her gasp. Awe and dread gripped at her heart. She knew who this man was. She’d studied dragons in her political science class and had learned that there were only two golden dragons. Their names floated in her mind. Carissa and Kyle Markel. How could she have not recognized the King of Dragons? She’d just finished an entire unit on him and the return of the dragons. In fact, those were the notes plastered with prints of her roommate’s butt!
She looked down at the injured man and tried to compare him to the pictures she’d seen in class. She let herself off the hook for not realizing who he was. He looked nothing like the stock images. But, what was he doing here?
The touch of golden scales rubbed against her mind making her shiver. There was strength and power there, but it was also pain and fear. It felt torn. Instinctually, Angela reached out to soothe the frayed edge. A rumble of pleasure passed over her. The energy liked being touched.
She wanted to caress it more, but a pain in her chest made her gasp and drawback. Refocusing her eyes, she found that the pain wasn’t in her body. She was feeling the pain of Noah pulling the knife from the wound in Kyle’s chest. Opening her mouth, she drew in measured breaths, dealing with the sharp pain as Noah worked frantically to close the wound before Kyle bled out. Slowly, the ache eased as Noah and Byrd knitted Kyle’s flesh back together.
After a few minutes, Noah sat back and wiped a hand across his forehead, smearing blood across his skin. “There, he’s stable,” Noah said with a sigh. He paused, considering the weakened man. “But I don’t want to pull the support from him too fast. I’m going to release you one at a time.”
Angela watched as Noah met everyone’s eyes confirming that they understood. When he reached her, she nodded. She closed her eyes so she could sense what he was doing better. There were a tension and pain in the golden energy that made her heart hurt. She brushed her mind against it to soothe it. She felt the energy vibrate in contentment. Had it been physical, she would have said it was purring.
That only lasted for a moment before Noah cut the first line of energy loose and dropped it away. There was a frantic flutter in the energy as its support was pulled away.
Intellectually, Angela knew that Kyle was an age-old dragon, but what she felt from him made her think of a scared animal. She shushed it softly, trying to calm him.
The golden energy fluttered around and settled close to her. It stayed there as Noah pulled the second line of supporting energy away. Angela held on, giving what comfort she could as the other lines of energy were released.
A soft touch on Angela’s shoulder grabbed her attention, and she looked up to see a worried look on Noah’s face.
“I need you to release him,” Noah said.
Angela nodded her understanding and closed her eyes. She tried to back away from the power, but it held on. “You have to let me go,” she thought as the power clung to her. Her mind rattled with defiance as the power wrapped around her tighter. She started to panic as the power overwhelmed her. “Please,” she begged.
The power rippled as Noah tried to pull it way.
Angela didn’t know how to describe the energy that she’d been bound to, but the emotional distress she felt when Noah forced them apart turned her stomach. “No,” she said as the power was ripped away. Its pain and loss radiated through her. She opened her eyes to find Noah had lifted her hand from Kyle
’s ankle. Tears hung in her eyes as she met Noah’s gaze. It was clear he had felt the same distress. She wanted to ask if Kyle would be okay, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak yet.
Noah placed an understanding hand on her shoulder before releasing her and standing up.
Rocking back to sit fully on the ground, Angela stared at Kyle’s limp form without really seeing him. She breathed through her swirling emotions as she came back to herself. Noah had been right. That had been a very weird experience, and Angela didn’t know how to handle it. A soft touch on her shoulder drew Angela’s attention, and she looked up to find Kara standing over her.
“Come on,” Kara said as she coaxed Angela from the ground. “We can do no more for now. Let’s get you settled for the night.”
Nodding, Angela stood up. She glanced at Kyle and the men surrounding him. She could see the injured man’s chest rising and falling, so she knew he lived, but she couldn’t put down the uneasy feeling clenching her heart. Something was terribly wrong with him. And it went further than the healed knife wound in his heart.
Unsure what to do now, Angela turned and followed Kara across the darkened parking lot. Thoughts of the night’s activities rolled through her mind. Each new event piled on top of the previous until it was too much for Angela to process. Shock set in and numbed her to the reality of her situation before panic could take hold. A split second decision had set her life in motion and left her at the mercy of people she didn’t know. Hopefully they were good people.
6
Angela stared at the underside of the bunk above her. It wasn’t the most pleasant view, but she didn’t really see the metal lattice holding the mattress pad. Her mind was too busy churning over the choices that had brought her to the small cabin in the wood. She weighed each decision and debated if she would have done something different if she had known the final outcome.
Letting out a long sigh, she came to her conclusion. Any change would have led to Kyle’s death. Saving his life was the one thing she could not regret. Now she just had to find a way to deal with the rest. She let out a mirthless laugh as she pushed the thin blanket back and sat up on the bed. “No good deed goes unpunished,” she muttered. Her mother had used that phrase regularly but Angela never put any stock in those words. She was feeling them now.